Orchard fruit survey - England
The UK government department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) recently published (March 2010) details of commercial orchard production in England and Wales in 2009. The full publication can be found here.
Some of the main findings:
- The size of apple orchards has increased by 1.7% since 2007 (13,594 hectares).
- Cider apple production accounts for the largest proportion of apple orchards - 6,624 hectares.
- There have been larger relative increases for pears (up 6.6% to 1,677 hectares), plums (up 4% to 869 hectares). Cherry production is also thought to have increased - 649 hectares.
- Looking specifically at apple production, the area dedicated to the main English commercial varieties - Cox, Bramley, and Discovery - has been falling. However this reduction has been more than made up with increasing area devoted to a mixture of Egremont Russet, Worcester Pearmain, cider apples, Braeburn, Gala, and Jonagold. Small quantities of modern varieties such as Cameo, Jazz, and Kanzi are also starting to be grown.
There is a view that English orchards are in decline, but these figures show that the total orchard area in England and Wales is actually increasing, and has grown by about 3% since 2002. It is also interesting to see that the range of varieties being grown commercially is also becoming more diverse.